The Misfit Hero in Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut and A Perfect Day for Bananafish
The "Misfit Hero" is a common trait of J.D. Salinger's short stories. The "Misfit Hero" is a character who is in conflict with him or herself and has good qualities and bad qualities. This hero is usually isolated and is attempting to break out of his darkness because he craves and requires love and warmth. These protagonists are unable to function effectively in society because they are so overcome with experience, love, and perceptions. An outsider sometimes reaches out by a romantic gesture that is ridiculous but tender, meaningful, and unexpected (French 305).
In "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", the protagonist, Seymour Glass, has a spiritual illness which makes him incapable of distinguishing between significant and insignificant experiences. Seymour's actions seem to demand attention in an immature way, suggesting insecurity and a need for love (French 306). He disrupts the composure of adults. Seymour does not show up for his own wedding because he says he is too happy. The nature of this happiness is further illuminated through the use of a boyhood experience of Seymour's: at the age of twelve he threw a stone at a young girl, wounding her for life. The narrator, Seymour's brother, explains the incident this way:
We were up at the Lake. Seymour had written to Charlotte, inviting her to come and visit us, and her mother finally let her. What happened was, she sat down in the middle of our driveway one morning to pet Boo Boo's cat, and Seymour threw a stone at her because she looked so beautiful sitting there in the middle of the driveway with Boo Boo's cat. Everybody knew that for God's sake. (Salinger Raise 89)
Seymour's own understanding of his derangement is a more creative one. He writes in his journal:
Certain heads, certain colors and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me. Other things too. Charlotte once ran away from me outside the studio and I grabbed her dress to stop her, to keep her near me. A yellow cotton dress I loved because it was too long for her. I still have a lemon-yellow mark on the palm of my right hand, I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy. (Salinger Raise 75-76)
It is obvious that Seymour's perception of this incident differs from that of his brother.
Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards were both Christians who had great faith in God and put Him first in their lives. They were both aware of God’s almighty power and that God had greater plans for mankind than what was visible on Earth. Their core way of thinking was similar but their personal understanding of God’s nature was strikingly different. Bradstreet saw a kind and compassionate God and Edwards saw a harsh and jealous God. However, both knew that eternal life awaited those who accepted God into their hearts.
Society uplifts famous individuals, causing faulty lifestyles to be lost within time. Truman Capote is an example of a famous author whose flaws have been lost underneath society’s approbation. Capote’s youth, with an abusive mother and absent father, led him to a successful life as an author; however, the lost favor of friends and fans sent him spiraling into alcoholism that tarnished his career.
Usually in novels grappling with identity crisis, there is a downfall like for Brick’s struggle to be true to his sexual identity in Tennessee Williams’s play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It was in a time when America did not tolerate same sex relationships, so each character acted in accordance with the sexual identity given to their genders. For Seymour, he is heavily praised like some kind of God for his...
The human mind, only able to withstand so much pressure before losing control, is like a volcano. The harsh truths that accumulate throughout the course of one’s life can lead to devastation, the eruption of the mind’s volcano. American twentieth century author, J.D. Salinger, illustrates the devastating consequences caused by a buildup of emotions and a lack of communication in his short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” Salinger “has become, in biographer Ian Hamilton's phrase, ‘famous for not wanting to be famous’ ” (Stevick). In this short story, Salinger details the interactions of the main character, Seymour Glass, with Sybil Carpenter, a young girl. Through these interactions, Salinger provides the reader with a glimpse into Seymour’s unstable, troubled mind. Seymour’s demise shows the importance of true communication and the expression of such emotions. By releasing societal pressures and not allowing oneself to be plagued by materialistic ideals, one can truly achieve a stable state of mind. Through the use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and motif, J.D. Salinger's short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” communicates the theme that effective communication is often a monumental struggle.
Hunter Hayes uses hyperbole, which is an extreme exaggeration, to express how much he needs the one he loves. In line one, the speaker states, “You know I’d fall apart without you.” The speaker is trying means that he will fall apart emotionally, meaning he will become depressed and his emotions will take over his thoughts. This is a hyperbole, because Hunter Hayes will not literally fall apart from limb to limb or he will not die. He will be sad and hurt, but he won’t die without her. The fact that he would literally fall apart without his love is exaggerated.
In many ways, The Misfit reminds one of John Milton’s Lucifier in Paradise Lost. A devout Catholic, Flannery O’Connor likely had this character in mind when writing her villain in this story. Milton’s Lucifer too is intelligent and feels betrayed by his God. It is his flawed sense of justice that causes him to strive to do only the opposite of God’s law – to let the bad be his good. This seems very similar to The Misfit.
The most obvious example of one of these unfortunate male characters is of course Albert from the Color Purple. Throughout the novel, Albert is portrayed as an abusive agitator whose main concerns are money, sex, and making sure things are in their “place”.
George Washington ,who had become the first American president, accepts an achievement of leading the Continental Army. During Washington’s first term in office, Washington combined some of the states together and began to help set up the federal government. George Washington did not get in the way with the guidelines-making powers that he feel the Constitution would give the Congress. Washington soon believed that unfamiliar policy was a main apprehension for the little nation. Washington had been taking care of his family's plantation and portion time in the Virginia House of Burgesses while the second Continental Congress commonly voted to have him guide the revolutionary army. George had earlier renowned himself; in the eyes of his generation he became known as a commander in chief for the British army in the French and Indian War in 1754. While born in British George was known as a British civilian and a former Redcoat, by the 1770s, Washington had joined the growing position of colonists who were troubled by what they well thought-out to be Britain's manipulative policies in North America. In the 1770s, Washington joined the Continental Congress as a hand over from Virginia. The following year, the Congress presented Washington the responsibility of being known as the commander ...
Born on January 1, 1919, Jerome David Salinger was to become one of America’s greatest contemporary authors. In 1938 Salinger briefly attended Ursinus College in Pennsylvania where he wrote a column, "Skipped Diploma," which featured movie reviews for his college newspaper. Salinger made his writing debut when he published his first short story, "The Young Folks," in Whit Burnett’s Story magazine (French, xiii). He was paid only twenty-five dollars. In 1939, at the age of 20, Salinger had not acquired any readers. He later enrolled in a creative writing class at Columbia University. Salinger was very much interested in becoming an actor and a playwright, which was quite odd because he would later in life become a recluse (Wenke, 3). Salinger adjusted his writing style to fit the literary marketplace. He was writing for money and began writing for magazines like Good Housekeeping and Mademoiselle. Many of Salinger’s characters have unique character traits. "Salinger presents a number of stories that consider characters who become involved in degrading, often phony social contexts," states a major critic (Wenke, 7). These characters are often young and have experienced a lot of emotional turmoil. They have been rejected by society and mainly categorized as "misfits." This alienation of the personality is often viewed as a sign of weakness by society when in fact the outcasts ultimately gain strength from their experiences as shown in Nine Stories, The Catcher in the Rye, and Franny and Zooey. Salinger is telling a tale of the human condition in its reality through his novels. Nine Stories is a collection of short stories of people who are uncertain of the next path to take in life. They are lonely, needy, and searching for love. One of these stories, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," is the story of a young couple who try to understand their life together and the true meaning of love. Seymour Glass has just been released from the Army Hospital and he is unable to adjust to life with his "crass wife Muriel amidst the lavish and vulgar atmosphere of their post-war second honeymoon" (Gwynn & Blotner, 19). It has often been called "the loveless tunnel of love." Salinger portrays Muriel in the first part of the story as superficial. ...
...erall, Great Britain wanted to rule colonies to benefit themselves and only concerned for their own welfare and not that of the American people.
The Misfit; is the epitome of the Godless man in a Godless society. He is a killer who is also raised without spirituality as the old woman's children. He is the representative of evil.
This current cultural environment of materialism during the post-World War II period inspired J.D Salinger to pen the short story “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish.” It is a story that details the suicide of Seymour Glass. Salinger, in his story, critiques the materialist consumerism that arose after the second world war. The American society has not been severely impacted by the war in comparison to Europe. The country was also doing well finally, and the economic prosperity that arises during the war meant that a large number of the population has sufficient finances to make unnecessary purchases (Franssen, 158). This lead to the emergence of a society that was characterized by greediness and spendthrifts. Essentially, suicide is an accomplishment in a "phony" society that is based on materialism.
As Irving Howe once observed, “The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.” In a dynamic society, innocence evades even the youngest members of our world; it evades even the nonexistent members of our world. J.D. Salinger explores this elusive innocence in his short story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Distinct similarities appear between the main character, Seymour Glass, and Salinger including the World War II experience and attraction for younger, more innocent people (Salerno). Salinger conveys this through Seymour’s preference of a young girl’s company over his own wife's company. Throughout the story, “Salinger constantly draws attention to himself and his precocious intellect” (Daniel Moran). “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” revolves around an army veteran post-World War II who visits a beach resort with his wife but spends more time there with the young Sybil Carpenter. Using a historical context of World War II and portrayal of many different characters, Salinger effectively depicts the story of a man in a desperate search for innocence. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” J.D. Salinger uses symbolism and figurative language to stress the concept of unattainable innocence.
...doesn’t like anything. This makes him an unlikely hero since most heroes are about pleasing people and of the people. This can also be used to show how he has changed a minuscule amount. In the beginning he didn’t like anything, but by the end of his journey he began to sort of miss people. This again shows how Salinger perceives heroism as small changes that occur over a journey.
American writer James A. Baldwin had once said, “People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them" (BrainyQuote). One is usually told to put the past behind. For some, it is a struggle to do so. Sometimes the effects of one’s past linger, making an ‘ordinary’ future seem impossible. J.D. Salinger, a World War II veteran, suffered from a lingering mental illness after he returned from the War. He published "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" only three years later. Salinger's personal post-war struggle is evident in the story’s theme: loneliness and uncertainty in following a difficult situation. The story’s main character, Seymour, and Salinger share the burden of feeling outcast and alone upon returning from War. Both the author and his created character search for the innocence they lost in the war. Seymour, in particular, seems to see it in the youth of children.